John Wesley’s thoughts on the idea ‘Once saved always saved’.
“Calvinists, who deny that salvation can ever be lost, reason on the subject in a marvelous way. They tell us that no virgin’s lamp can go out; no promising harvest be choked with thorns; no branch in Christ can ever be cut off for lack of fruitfulness; no pardon can ever be forfeited, and no name blotted out of God’s book of life!
They insist that no salt can ever lose its savor; nobody can ever “receive the grace of God in vain”; “bury his talents”; “neglect such a great salvation”; … “look back” after putting his hand to the gospel plow. Nobody can “grieve the Spirit” till He is “quenched,” and strives no more, nor “deny the Lord that bought them”; nor “bring upon themselves swift destruction.” And nobody, or body of believers, can ever get so lukewarm that Jesus will spew them out of His mouth.
They use reams of paper to argue that if one ever got lost he was never found. John 17:12; that if one falls, he never stood. Rom. 11:16-22 and Heb. 6:4-6; if one was ever “cast forth,” he was never in, and “if one ever withered,” he was never green. John 15:1-6; and that “if any man draws back,” it proves that he never had anything to draw back from. Heb. 10:38,39; that if one ever “falls away into spiritual darkness,” he was never enlightened. In short: If you get it, you can’t lose it; and if you lose it you never had it…
May God save us from accepting a doctrine that must be defended by such fallacious reasoning!”
~ John Wesley
Acts 2:37-40
Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”
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